Ultraslim phones are having their moment again, and the iPhone Air fits right into that comeback story. Apple wasn’t the first to go ultra-thin, but it’s managed to grab everyone’s attention with how refined and light the Air feels.
On paper, it ticks almost every flagship box — gorgeous looks, a crisp display, and smooth, reliable performance. But at ₹1,19,900, a few trade-offs are hard to miss.
The single rear camera, borrowed straight from the iPhone 16e, feels like a step down for something at this price. And while Apple’s chase for thinness makes the phone look stunning, it’s also come at the cost of battery life. After swapping my SIM from the iPhone 16 Pro Max and using the Air for over a week and a half, I’ve got a clearer picture of who it’s built for — and where Apple’s design ambitions start to overreach.
iPhone Air’s refreshing new take on design
The iPhone Air grabs your attention the second you see it. It’s unbelievably thin, the kind of phone that makes you stop and look twice. And, trust me, photos really don’t capture how sleek it looks in person. During the week and half that I was testing iy, I was stopped at least 3-4 times by strangers, asking me which phone I was holding. I honestly can’t remember the last time an iPhone got that kind of reaction purely because of how it looked.
For something so slim, it feels impressively sturdy. There’s a reassuring solidness to it, almost like a small block of metal. The glossy titanium frame gives it a futuristic vibe, and the way it sits in your hand feels very different from any iPhone I’ve used before. Apple has gone all out on materials this time, with Ceramic Shield 2 on the front, a grade-5 titanium frame, and Ceramic Shield glass back.
You also won’t have to worry about it bending in your pocket, either. The phone feels tough, and it comes with IP68 protection, so it’s safe from dust and water.
The buttons are laid out in the usual Apple way, with the power and camera controls on the right, and the volume and Action buttons on the left.
The speaker grilles and USB-C port sit at the bottom, although the port only supports USB 2.0 speeds.
The only thing missing is a SIM tray. The iPhone Air is Apple’s first phone that’s fully eSIM-only across all regions.
Then there’s the camera plateau. It’s pretty thick, considering the rest of the phone, but for a good reason. Apple has tucked most of the key components inside it, including the logic board and camera modules under the plateau. The rest of the phone is left for the battery. The plateau also runs across the width of the phone, which makes it more stable when placed on a table compared to phones like the Galaxy S25 Edge or Fold 7.
Apple says the iPhone Air is 5.6 mm thin, making it the slimmest iPhone ever. Now, while that’s true, the camera plateau is still hard to ignore. I get that better cameras need more space, but it reminds me of the iPhone 6 from 2014. That one felt like a truly slim phone, bump included. The iPhone Air may not be quite as seamless, but it’s easily one of Apple’s boldest design moves in years.
The iPhone Air comes with only one rear camera. Does it hold up?
On paper, the iPhone Air’s camera setup might seem a little underwhelming, and to some extent, that’s true. When you compare it to rivals like the Galaxy S25 Edge, which manages to stay almost as slim while offering one more camera, Apple’s choice does come across a bit conservative.
The phone comes with a 48MP Fusion camera that also delivers 2x lossless zoom. The photos out of this sensor are nothing short of breathtaking. The photos I took turned out crisp, full of detail, and with properly balanced, which looked lively. Daylight shots pop beautifully, while low-light images retain solid clarity with minimal noise.
Still, I couldn’t help but notice the absence of an ultrawide lens after using it for a few days.
The Air also misses out on some high-end tools found on the Pro models, like ProRes video and ProRAW photo capture.
That said, it still offers all of Apple’s latest photographic styles and keeps the interface refreshingly simple. You just open the app, shoot, and get solid results, its that simple.
Video performance holds up well too. You can record in 4K at 60fps, and the stabilisation feels rock steady, though zooming in, even a little does lead to a noticeable dip in quality.
The front camera, however, is where Apple has made a real leap. The new 24MP square sensor outputs 18MP images and introduces Centre Stage to the iPhone lineup. It automatically adjusts framing based on orientation and the number of faces in view, and it genuinely makes selfies and group shots look more natural and well-composed.
The iPhone Air has a gorgeous display
The iPhone Air feels like the perfect middle ground in size, sitting neatly between the iPhone 17 Pro and the Pro Max with its 6.5-inch display. Personally, I think it’s just the right balance, big enough for watching videos comfortably, but still light and compact enough to use one-handed. The screen itself is classic Apple quality. It’s a Super Retina XDR OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, and it feels incredibly smooth while scrolling through Instagram, Twitter, or even reading articles online.
But where it really blew me away was during video playback. It supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and with its 3,000 nits of peak brightness, the visuals just pop. I rewatched Despicable Me and Minions on it, and honestly, the colours and contrast looked so good that I caught myself smiling at a few scenes. It’s bright, sharp, and just beautiful to look at.
Even the speakers surprised me. They’re not as loud or full as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but considering how thin this phone is, they sound way better than I expected. Music, podcasts, even a few late-night Netflix episodes, it all sounded clean and balanced. For something this slim, the iPhone Air really nails the media experience.
The iPhone Air’s performance and software experience
The iPhone Air runs on the same A19 Pro chip as the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, although it’s tuned a little differently. It uses a six-core CPU and a five-core GPU, just like the regular iPhone 17. On paper, that should put its performance somewhere between the two, and benchmark scores reflect that. In AnTuTu, the 17 Pro Max scores around 2.3 million, the iPhone 17 comes in at 2.2 million, and the Air follows closely at about 2.0 million.
In daily use, though, I barely noticed any difference. Apps open quickly, multitasking feels smooth, and everything runs with the same polish you expect from a flagship iPhone. The only time I felt a slight difference was while gaming. I played BGMI and a few other demanding titles, and while gameplay stayed fluid, the phone did heat up faster than both the 17 and 17 Pro Max. It is not a deal-breaker, just physics doing what it does when you pack so much power into a body this thin. Even after half an hour of gaming, I didn’t experience frame drops or slowdowns, so performance still feels top-tier.
Out of the box, the iPhone Air runs iOS 26, and this update feels like a major step forward. The new Liquid Glass design gives the interface a more dynamic look. Messages and Phone have cleaner layouts, the Music app has a few subtle but smart tweaks, and the new lock screen setup allows you to customise every detail.
I have been using iOS 26 since the first developer beta after WWDC 2025, and while the early versions were buggy, the final build feels stable and intuitive. Once you adjust, the entire interface feels modern and cohesive.
Where Apple still falls behind is in AI. Features like Image Playground, the AI writing tools, and Visual Intelligence sound impressive but feel basic compared to what Android phones can do. Visual Intelligence tries to mimic Google’s Circle to Search, but it lacks the same smoothness. Even Siri has not really evolved yet. If AI features are what you care about most, Android still leads that race, at least for now.
How’s the battery life on the iPhone Air?
The iPhone Air packs a 3,149 mAh battery, and I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting much from it. The fact that Apple announced a dedicated MagSafe Battery Pack, particularly for this model, almost felt like a warning sign. But after using it for a week, I was pleasantly surprised.
Despite the small capacity, it easily lasts a full day on a single charge. I’m a heavy user, constantly switching between photos, videos, YouTube, and even some gaming, and I usually ended the day with around 15 per cent still left.
On busier days, the MagSafe Battery Pack really helped. Starting from 1 per cent, it topped the phone up to about 65 per cent, which was enough for another half day of use.
Charging speeds were decent too, but that’s largely because the battery’s small. Using a 70W charger, I got about 17-18W charge and got to 50 per cent in roughly 30 minutes and a full charge in about an hour and a half. Wireless charging via MagSafe supports up to 20W.
Verdict: Should you consider buying the iPhone Air?
So, who exactly is the iPhone Air meant for? In my opinion, this is Apple experimenting before its next big leap. A foldable iPhone is almost inevitable at this point, likely arriving with the iPhone 18, and the Air feels like a test run for that future. Much like how Samsung used the S25 Edge to refine the design language for its Galaxy Z Fold 7, Apple seems to be testing how far it can stretch its design and manufacturing limits — and how users respond.
The iPhone Air is built for those who value aesthetics and design above all else. It’s light, elegant, and feels premium in every sense. The display is gorgeous, performance is fast, and the craftsmanship is pure Apple.
However, it isn’t for everyone. If you want great cameras or long battery life, the iPhone 17 or 17 Pro Max make more sense. The Air exists to showcase design brilliance, not all-out specs.
